The on-loan Bournemouth full-back was widely pilloried after being sent off early on for a last-man foul, leaving his team-mates in the lurch as they crashed to a 6-0 defeat and 9-1 aggregate loss against Club Brugge in the play-off round.

Aarons paid the price for a red card described by former Rangers favourite Ally McCoist as “absolute car-crash material” by not featuring in any of the Light Blues’ next four matches.

Following a soul-searching month on the sidelines, however, the 25-year-old returned to the fray as a 73rdminute substitute away to Livi on Sunday and secured Gers’ first league win of the season with a close-range finish in the fourth minute of stoppage-time.

“No one was more disappointed than myself with that,” Aarons said of his chastening night in the Jan Breydel Stadium. “I’ve never been sent off in my career.

“A moment like that, a lapse in concentration, was extremely disappointing for me, especially in a crucial game like that.

“It was always going to be a difficult game for the team, let alone with 10 men, so I knew I wanted to make up for...